St. Landry democrat., 1887-11-26

3 cannot be referred. Hence the establish
: menu menu OF standing committee OF
levees was the first step to b'
taken in order to bring the matter before thu
mousse Ido not mean to say there mad no
Deen special committees on The Mississippi
river before that. but this was the first reso
iutlon creating o permanent committee OF
} leyees, which would continue to be a com
: Hlttee OF the house from congress to con
gress | have told you that the committee
inaue report IN favor OF the levees but thu
OH rallied. 1t appeared that the door wal
closed agalnstus aud that there was no hope
. or getting appropriations from sthe fedora
government TO construct our levees while we
were confronted by that situation | looked
AROUND IN my district and saw
, THAT THE JETTIEs
at the mouth of the Mississippi being bull
ny captain Eads were a success and offered
measure creating the Mississippi river
commission on June 80, 1876. the object be-
ing 20 get EadS on the commission and apply
,ne letty sysGem to the improvement OF the
Mississippi river.
L wish to mark the wide distinction be-
tween the improvement Of the river and
pulldlnR levees upon its banks to protect
our lands, which it had been deci0ed the
leoerai government had no power to do I'M
DER inc constitution. Until Eads' jett1ee
proved u success at the mouth OF tho river
NOBODY dreamed that levees would be used
TO IMPROVE THE RIVER.
captain lads said ne would not build the
leVees to protect the lands from overfow
Dut to maintain and deepen the channel Of
the river. A jetty and Il levee are the same
tnlnE. a JatIy, properly speaking, il a levee
Dult IN the bed OF the stream. When the
river Is unduly wide the object is to narrow
IL, ana Tor that purpose jettfes are mployed.
for instance, Lake Providence reach was 10,
600 feet wide, and the channel shallow.
what was tie plan to improve that reacn
which stretched for 222 miles along the
| river and was full OF sand barss He con
| structed Jetties which formed a channel
ABOUT 5000 fest wide, the ordinary width of
the river above and below the reach. The
Jettles were built IN the shallow places, SO
thaL Wnen the river rises 1t OyertiOws the
| JetlleS and makes deposits in the rear of
them. Every year these deposits accumu-
| late ana form artificial banks even as nigh
as the natural banks and on these fuunda-
| ll0nb leFeeS are reared.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYERS
mad held-and constitutional lawyers control
| the country and should do so because we
! ought To follow the line laid down In the
| constitution, for to exercise power beyond
| IL is uSurpdtl0n-tley held that the gov
| eminent could not appropriate money to
Duliu leVees. When, however. we advanced
! the proposition to tHtpTOrc the MISSISSIPPI
| FtrcF We stood on that provision OF the con
! stltuOOn which authorizes congress To regu-
| late commerce. The government has eX
| pended hundreds of millions of dollars 10
| improve the rivers and harDors OF the coun-
| try-not for the benefit OF the property hold
ers on the banks, because the government
has nothing TO do with that but for the pur-
pose or preserving and maintaining the
channels OF commerce.
When the constitution was formed the
states were Invested of any control over the
rivers and harboEs. The state OF Louisiana
Is forbidden not only by the treaty with
france but by the enabling act admitting
her into the union from any jurisdiction over
the Mississippi river or any navlgabIo
stream within her borders.
THE RIVERS AND HARBORs
belong not to the states, but 20 the United
States. being held in trust for the people.
and when IL becomes necessary to improve
d harbor or river II ls not done for the beneS
OF the people who live upon the banks. but
for the benefit OF the people Of the whole
country, whose commerce is TO pass through
these highways.
IL may surprise you to know that the Mis-
s!ssippi river required Improvement. Many
OF our citizens living on It's banks probably
lmaglne the river has water enough in 1t,
and that there was no obstacle to naylga-
ton. But the Mississippi
RIVER COMMISSION
found that the river had wideued 50 per cent
from Cairo down, and had shoaled so per
cent in fifty years. That surprising fact
showed that the Mississippi was following
the tendency of rivers in ii. iized countries
and that is TO Till up with sediment. IJ was
further found that the channel from Cairo
TO 81. Louis for four or five months in the
year had only 81 to feet OF water in it. In
the Memphis reach and the Lake Providence
reacn for four or tive months in the year
there were only or feet OF water. II was
evident that this great ighway OF commerce
was becoming filled up by the sediment and
dctritus poured into it by the tributary
streams. and that II 1t was to be preserved
1t must be improved.
The Mississippi river controls the freight
rates for the entire country. AS soon AS the
river is open Tor navigation the freight rates
go down and rise when it Is closed. What
does that mean TO the farmers of this great
valley. with their millions Of bushels Of
wheat to exports 1t means that If
THE RIVER WERE OPEN
the difference in the cost of transportation
would bring wealth to the homes OF the iu- |
dustr1ous people who inhablt this valley, |
and the moment it ID closed the railway cor. |
porati0ns lay their grasping hands on the |
earnings OF the farmers. Hence, fellow |
citizens, the improvement of the river is not |
a matter that concerns you exclusively, but |
it concerns the twenty-five millions Of peo- |
pie who live In the upper valley. The Cham |
Der OF Commerce OF st. Louis made state |
ment to the commerce committee of the |
United States senate that when the river
was eight feet deep the cost of transporta-
ton was just half what IL was when 1t was
four feet deep.
Now, what has been done for the i'm prove
ment Of the river! Between ST. Louis and |
Cairo, where, before the commission went |
about ga feet, there Is now an average OF
813 feet from the beginning of the year TO the
end. and the freishts to and from Sr. Louis
have been reduced accordingly. What
HAS BEEN DONE
on our portion of the Mississippi The works
ut Plum Point ami Lake Providence reach
have increased the depth TO II feet in |
one reach, and in the other to IL feet, in
stead OF 4 or feet. The work is not
but Is going on, day by day, un-
Ter the direction Of United states engineers. |
The plan of Captain Eads is being carried |
out, not entirely, but in the main, and when
aver 1t is applied you can see the beneficial
results to commerce by the improvement of
1avigation. That Is not all. The engineers
have reported to congress that, in order to
secure the best results, they must not only
build jetries inside the wlds expanses of
liver, but must retain every drop of
water inside the channel of the river in Its
food stages. That is the problem they have |
o solve, and to do so must use every iustru-
mentality they think necessary to fence IN
he river and increase the velocity OF the
current. AS the velocity increases the more
ediment is carried to the gulf and less de- |
posted In the bed OF the stream. Hence it
8 more necessary to keep the river inside its
'hannel at the flood stages than at any other
ime, because it will do it's work more per-
ectly then than at other times, when its vol
lme and the velocity OF the current are
ess. What is
THE BEST INsTRUMENIALITY
o effect this purpose2 Why, levees, bikes,
raining walls-whatever they may be
allied. They have gone to work to build the
evees on the river not to protect our lands,
tut to maintain and preserve the river, but
We are getting the benefit.
About Sl0,000,0OO have been appropriated |
or the improvement of the Mississippi river
elow Cairo, and of that sum about ST $780,
90 have been expended for deepening |
he channel. As the channel is despened | ,
ou lower the surface and diminish the dan
er Of overflow. There have also been ex-
ended about $2,562,000 In building levees on | !
he banks of the river. This has been done |
ince 1881 when the first appropriation was
made.
If you will bear with me will show you